Trade target Brock Nelson discusses uncertain future with Islanders
Brock Nelson’s status as a lifelong Islander is in doubt as the trade deadline approaches, writes Luke Fox.
MONTREAL — Brock Nelson will take the spotlight over the noise.
The New York Islanders’ 30-goal centreman is acutely aware that his name has risen near the top of every major trade board, and that the NHL’s trade deadline looms in just 24 days.
His club team is on the bubble, and his status as a lifelong Islander is equally in doubt.
So, to don the American crest and compete in fresh cities alongside fresh teammates for a brand-new trophy, well, it’s a breath of fresh air.
“It’s a mental break,” Nelson said Tuesday, from the contract chatter. “It’s something you kind of put on pause a little bit just being here.”
The 33-year-old sniper will assume a fourth-line checking role for Team USA and has invited a cluster of family to soak in 4 Nations Face-Off, pushing the business of New York and “the outside noise” to the back burner.
But an agreement (or disagreement) between Nelson, his agent Ben Hankinson and Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello — all of whom have a great relationship and communicate regularly, according to Nelson — better be reached by March 7.
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4 Nations Face-Off on Sportsnet
The inaugural edition of the 4 Nations Face-Off is here with the top players from Canada, Sweden, Finland and the United States going head-to-head in the highly anticipated best-on-best event. Watch all the games on Sportsnet, starting with Canada vs. Sweden on Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.
The Islanders dropped their last two games before the break. Four points — and, more severely, four teams — separate them from a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Lamoriello is reluctant to rebuild. But he is overseeing the NHL’s fourth-oldest roster, stars Mathew Barzal and Noah Dobson are injured, and a two-way pivot such as Nelson could recoup a tidy haul on a rental market light on top-six centres.
Nelson’s prorated $6-million cap hit is workable; his prorated $4-million actual salary even more so.
Lamoriello has a motto: If you’ve got time, use it.
So, there’s a sense Nelson’s trade — or extension — could come down to the wire.
“I know there’s a lot of speculation from outside and different things, and people have already decided for me a couple times what’s going to happen,” said Nelson, who holds a 16-team no-trade list.
“It’s all outside, and we’ll handle everything, and everything will sort itself out.”
OK. But how does Nelson himself want this sorted?
“I want what’s best for me, family, team and everything. So, there’s a lot of factors that go into it,” Nelson replied. “I know everybody kind of wants an answer right now, but that’s not how the world works. You don’t always get what you want, too.
“Lou is a great guy. I love playing for him. He’s a great man. He’s done a lot for me. He’s given me a great opportunity the last seven years I’ve had him, and he’s an influential guy in hockey in general.”
Nelson was drafted by the Islanders in 2010. He and his wife, Karley, have raised a family on Long Island. All four of their children are in school. He’s settled. Happy.
Does he accept less money to avoid uprooting his kids? Does the romance of being a one-franchise loyalist come into play? Or does he spot a rising cap, an aging roster, and try to win on the ice and maximize his negotiating power on the open market?
The happiness of his family is “definitely a factor,” Nelson said. “And only knowing Long Island and being an Islander, and knowing how much history the team has, and the legends that have played there before, and what they’ve done, obviously, plays into it as well.”
The other factor, particularly from Lamoriello’s vantage point, is the standings.
Go on another heater, like the seven-game win streak the Isles ran in late January, and perhaps that affects the deadline approach for Nelson and the team.
“Lou wants to win. He wants to win right now,” Nelson said. “He believes in the group, and I think everybody in the room believes in the group as well. We’re obviously not in the spot that we’d like to be. At the same time, we still know that we can get on a roll.
“There’s still a little bit of hockey left in the season, and we gotta get on another roll right after the break here. So, hopefully, guys are resetting, getting a little bit healthy. We’ve been kind of banged up, but I think everybody there wants to win now.”
If they don’t, the noise around Nelson will only intensify.
